Is your 5-A-Day getting humdrum? If it’s time to add variety to your snacks, try on plums for size. If you’re looking to add color to your plate, plums are definitely the answer to your dilemma. Ranging from red and yellow to green, blue and purple, plums are not only colorful, but also nutritious and delicious as well. From May to October you’ll find an abundance of sweet, ripe plums at your local grocery store or farmer’s market. From sweet to tart, adding plums to your diet can reignite your love for fruit…

Plums 101A drupe fruit, plums are a proud member of the rather large Rosaceae family of botanicals, which include peaches, pears, nectarines, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, apricot, and quince. There are more than one thousand different varieties of plum grown worldwide, although you’ll only find about 20 varieties in your grocery store or farmer’s market. Of these, two main types of plums exist: Japanese and European. Japanese plums are known as clingstone fruit, meaning that the pit clings to the fruit and doesn’t separate easily. These plums have yellow or red flesh and red to black-red skins, and include the Santa Rosa and Red Beaut plums. European plums are known as freestone, which you might guess by now that these pits come free of the flesh easily. These plums have either blue or purple skins, are very sweet and include the Empress, President, Italian, Tragedy and Stanley plums.

Selection, Storage & CookingFinding a ripe plum is easy. Just pick up a plum and lightly press your thumb into the flesh; if the flesh gives slightly, and you don’t feel any mushy spots, it’s perfect. Plums that don’t “give” to slight pressure are not yet ripe and will need to be placed in a paper bag at room temperature for one or two days. If you buy too many ripe plums, you can keep them in the fridge for up to three days.

Although plums are mainly eaten raw, making an excellent on-the-go snack, they can also be prepared in a variety of ways. Jams, compotes, sauces and purées made from plums are sweet and tangy, and go great on breads and meat alike. Poached plums also make for an elegant dessert. Prunes, which are a dried version of a variety of European plums, make for a very tasty, portable snack, and can also be used in baking as a substitute for butter or fat. Prune juice is also a popular staple in many households, both for its sweet taste and for its use as a mild laxative. An excellent recipe featuring prunes is our Moroccan Pork Tenderloin with Dried Plums.

Nutritional BenefitsPlums are a good source of vitamins A, C and B6, as well as riboflavin and potassium. Dried plums are even more concentrated in nutrients, and also high in fiber. In fact, just 5 pieces (about ¼ cup) of prunes offers 102 calories, 1 gram protein, 3 grams dietary fiber, 10% of the RDA for iron, and about 20% of your daily need for vitamin A.

Nutritional Benefits

- 1 medium plum -

Calories

36

Fat

0g

Carbohydrates

9g carbs (1g dietary fiber)

Protein

1g

Nutrient RDAs

114mg potassium

4-6*

0.1mg riboflavin

8-9

213 IU vitamin A

4-5%*

0.1mg vitamin B6

8%

6mg vitamin C

10%

*There is no RDA for potassium, but you need about 2,000-3,000mg/day

Are You Ready to Go Organic?Organic is a word that is appearing on more and more labels these days. Organic means that the products have be processed without conventional pesticides, fertilizers, or additives. In an ideal world, buying organic would be easy, and everything from your food to your cosmetics would be easy on the environment and easy on your body. In reality, there is more to consider when it comes to an organic lifestyle. Are you ready to go organic? Take this quiz and find out.